DramaAjumma

LOL.

I don't find the comparisons analogous to what's going on here.

That said, Koreans have already made a whole host of dramas referring to various Japanese invasions, the Japanese occupation during WW2 and the Korean war. They have even made dramas set in the tumultuous 80s. That's not what the problem is. From what I've heard is that critics are afraid that the showrunners have diminished the atrocities committed by the military regime or glorified the the underhanded doings of the NIS who used the excuse of "communist" or "North Korean" spies to torture pro-democracy student activists. There's even reference to this in the recent Chimera drama that's just finished airing. Yes, the police and authorities did commit injustices in the name of eliminating communism.

None of that is yet known because we haven't got the full story. We aren't going to get the full story if the show gets cancelled midstream.

I don't presume to know how SK feel about anything. Or whether this outrage is a proportional reflection of the entire population. But I object to jumping to conclusions based on hearsay, rumours and fragments.

The fact is... none of us know what the rest of the story looks like. No one can say for certain that a distortion of history has been perpetrated. Unless someone has actually seen the entire show and has done a proper review of it, it's all purely speculation and the outrage premature.

That's what I think too. And considering that there are so many veterans in the drama who lived through that period. I have a hard time believing that JTBC would shoot itself in the foot like this.

I doubt there's anything hugely controversial either. Nothing I've seen so far looks like it's revisionist.

No, I haven't heard about that particular incident.
As someone who has been following SK dramas for over a decade, I can say that the industry is very sensitive to public opinion and scandals. Extremely so. And the actors would be very careful about this as well especially the older ones who probably lived through the period mentioned. At the very least they would thinking through this before damaging their own careers with a scandal.

Have you watched the show?

Regardless of where one sits on this issue, the better approach would have been to inform the international viewership about the actual history without going into a frenzy and then do a blow by blow comparison with the show's presentation.

No one thinks that The Crown is an accurate depiction of history of the royal family I would have thought. What about the Da Vinci Code? That wasn't an accurate account of history or of Christianity by any stretch of the imagination.

It always seemed to me that the common sense approach to the whole thing was to watch the whole thing before coming to any substantial conclusions about the product. If JTBC aren't capitulating despite all the social media outrage, they must be fairly confident of their product. From what I've seen of it so far, it looks like a quality production. I would imagine neither JTBC nor the cast would be so silly to involve themselves in a project that would offend large swathes of the population and do damage to the brand.

What the detractors did (it seems to me) was to give the drama free publicity. (These campaigns almost always do) The SK public can always boycott the show if it goes against their sensibilities. I am always nervous about talk of censorship. Especially in the current political climate.

So far so good. Came for Lee Jin-uk but the overall experience is very immersive. Can't wait to see where they take this.

I loved the poignant bittersweet ending which is a good reflection of the theme of the older generation completely screwing up the younger generation. Of course everyone's responsible in some form for making the decisions that they did but the older generation set things in motion -- whether by taking things into their own hands or by concealing the truth.

It's a tragic story and thankfully the show did the adult thing by taking things to their logical consequences. These people could have been friends but for the crimes committed by the past.

The show didn't go for a Disney ending. For that I am grateful.

Times was not bad but I had hard time with the male lead (actor's fine) and his choices. He wasn't the most likeable.

Jang Seung-jo! No wonder the voice sounded familiar. Almost didn't recognize him. Really happy to see him in this.

First episode is not a bad start. After DP, it's good to be able to watch something else that Jung Hae-in is starring in.

The calibre of actors in this production is surprisingly high for something apparently embroiled in controversy.

Whatever affection he might have for Yi San, it's coloured/tainted by his own connivances. From my perspective, I think he likes to believe that he is indispensable and it's important for Yi San to be entirely dependent on him for counsel etc. To me Deok-ro needs to believe/feel that he is the most important person to Yi San. It's a gap and an insecurity that he has that drives his overweening ambition. He needs to be sure that Yi San will never let go off him or replace him with someone else.

It's really rare ... not unlike the Greek chimera.... that we've gotten something this consistently tight from OCN for a while. I would say that it's my favourite OCN drama in at least 2 years.
It's a great morality tale that doesn't infantilize the messaging. Plus the performances across the board have been very good.

To me it should be up there with Beyond Evil.

The only person he's in love with is himself.
He's a cunning avaricious ambitious politician. He's planning to bring his sister into the place to consolidate his position.

Love is not even in his vocabulary.

I didn't like him very much at first but he grew too. He did give the boys good instructions in the end.

Episode 29. No break up and no sign of it in this final straight. Seeing that they got together quite late, that makes sense.
No, no real love triangle. Mostly a bit of teasing but the FL only really likes the ML. But it takes her a bit of time to finally admit her feelings.

Although the ending was somewhat anticlimactic, I enjoyed the entire series. Yes, it meandered somewhat at the end but it wasn't a deal breaker for me. The ambition was admirable even if it didn't dot all the "i"s and cross all the "t"s perfectly. I can't say that I was surprised by the ending because of its strong supernatural-ecological emphasis all throughout. The series had its flaws but I didn't have trouble following the show's progression through the non-linear narrative.

I love the views around the mountain and the attention to detail on the ground.

I love the nod to Prison Playbook. LOL. "I got hit a lot during my 20 years as a sportsperson"
I have to say I really like how the women are written here although the performances all round are superb.

As for the rating, I guess the people who like crime shows are a tough crowd. :P

What's kept me watching the entire time are the leads. Their chemistry has always been good and now that they're together, things are even better. They have a nice team dynamic which is my favourite kind of romantic pairing. Their kissing scenes are really some of the best I've seen this year. I'm also glad that Lili had found a nice man who is a complete opposite to the sorts of scumbags that she used to go for.

The psychology side of things has become very hit and miss. The fact that it's tied to the professor's past and current scandal to some degree makes it all very unwieldy. I'm surprised that Ye Jiahui got away with a slap on the wrist. If this is only about his mother, I find his plot too over-the-top and complex.

I keep wondering if there's going to be a second season.